Code-switching and stance-taking in Vietnamese: a case study of the Rap Viet TV program

Abstract

This thesis examined and presented the relationship between code-switching and rap community membership in the Rap Viet TV show from the sociolinguistic perspective. The language practice encompassed verbal speech and code-switching between English and Vietnamese. By employing both intra- and inter-sentential code-switching within their turn, conversational participants were able to create their multiple authentic stances while communicating their message. Language choice of rap artists and hip-hoppers as animators represented their belief and allowed them to claim their group membership. Via constant engaging in code-switching practices, members of Vietnamese rap community conventionalized its use, hence, code-switching as a practice became a marker of stance associated with this particular community of practice. The in-group signaling contextualized their stances as characteristics of group solidarity, projecting group memberships and specific social identity for the authors of the stances. The universal code of English was the main resource for constructing “glocal” hip-hop identities of hip-hoppers. Hip-hop artists paid much attention to adopt linguistic patterns of African American English to construct and maintain the sense of shared community. The authentic ideology intertwined the meaning of global hip-hop culture and local culture language ideology in their speech. It left evidence for the co-authorship and coconstruction acts between hip-hop artists and the urban youth community.